Scholars: Famed Manuscript May Be Bound Incorrectly

For more than 100 years, one of the world's strangest books may have been confusing experts for a surprisingly simple reason: It's probably in the wrong order. A new study in Digital Medievalist argues that Yale's 15th-century Voynich Manuscript—famous for its unknown "Voynichese" script and uncracked code—was originally assembled as loose folded sheets meant to be read in sequence, not as the bound booklet it is today, per Smithsonian. The researchers say that the handwriting and content jump illogically from page to page, with different scribes alternating in ways that defy medieval practice.

The artwork also only lines up if the pages are treated as a stack, not a bound volume. The text remains undeciphered, with the researchers noting that a new analysis is now required. "Any research that relies on the current sequence of pages needs to be revisited, since the manuscript is out of order," co-author Lisa Fagin Davis tells Gizmodo. "Instead of a lone genius or madman, we are looking instead at a community of common practice, since at least five people knew how to write in what is called Voynichese." More here on the "world's most mysterious book."